Our Girls 1st XI are the 2020 winners of the Canterbury Secondary Schools' Girls 1st Xl Premier Division 1 grade, beating St Andrew’s College 1st X1 in the final on Wednesday 16 September, 1-0.

2020 has been a pretty crazy year for the team! Some intense highs and equally extreme lows throughout, but overall another successful season for the girls. Unfortunately, the national tournament was cancelled early due to COVID and our hopes were once again dampened by the late cancellation of a regional tournament. Nevertheless, the girls dug deep and went on to win the Canterbury Secondary Schools Championship for the second year in a row!

With a short preparation, the team started off pretty rocky with a 2-1 loss against Lincoln but recovered quickly to beat Christchurch Girls 4-0 in the second fixture. Another tough defeat, this time 2-0 against STAC saw the girls under the pump to make playoffs this year. However, a bit more training under the belt and both performances and morale had greatly improved. Two solid wins against Papanui and Rangiora placed the team second after the round-robin games.

After a week's break over Winter Tournament Week, the girls were all amped for the semi against Girls High. A better Christchurch Girls' opposition turned up for the game but the girls played better than ever with a comfortable 4-2 being the final result. An inevitable final clash with STAC was once again on the cards for the girls. This game carried a lot of hype as it was the last game for 8 of the girls, as well as the coach, Jayden. A hard-fought first half by the girls but the score remained 0-0. Midway through the second half, Elfie intercepted a square pass by the STAC midfield and scored top bins from 25-30 yards. The whole team pushed right till the end with amazing determination from everyone. A 1-0 final result saw the team lift the trophy for the second consecutive year. Well done girls!

Ellena Firth

Captain